Speaking of this, Fushimi Roku suddenly perked up.
He straightened his back, holding his beer cup, and put on a nonchalant demeanor, but spoke in a distressed tone, "Oh my, this... sigh..."
"Mr. Fu Jian, as someone who’s been through it, I actually don’t want to say much."
Watanabe Shun patted his shoulder, assuming the stance of a senior: "But, after all, I am your senior, in the realm of emotions, I can at least give you some advice... When dealing with a girl like Minamoto Tamako, you need to show your manliness! Understand?"
As he said this, he patted his bicep: "Girls like assertive men. You need to appear more decisive in front of her. Don’t play detective games following her around all day. Being a kept man has no future; you need to be a man who stands on his own!"
Kazama Tatsuya nodded in agreement from the side, "Like making the first move, that’s what a man should do. If you don’t speak up, you’ll never get anywhere."
"Exactly!" Watanabe Shun snapped his fingers.
Fushimi Roku kept his mouth tight, sighed, and said, "How many times do I have to say it? I don’t feel that way about Minamoto Tamako, I just consider her a really good friend..."
Watanabe Shun kept nibbling on pickled edamame, scoffing, "Really? I don’t believe it."
Fushimi Roku continued to press his forehead and sighed, "Believe it or not, I’m just really troubled..."
"If you don’t like her, then why are you troubled?" Kazama Tatsuya had a hunch that this guy was up to no good.
"Because she confessed to me this morning." Fushimi Roku finally revealed the truth, dropping the hand from his head, his mouth turning up in a Versailles curve.
Even the edamame in Watanabe Shun’s mouth didn’t taste good anymore.
Fushimi Roku’s expression grew more complacent: "Now I’m really troubled, how do I reject her... Do you guys understand how bothered I am? She’s my best friend, how can I bear to reject her?"
As he spoke, he also picked up a chopstick of edamame, popping a bean in his mouth, "No choice, I can only come here during the day to drown my sorrows in alcohol."
Watanabe Shun, being more simple-minded, believed Fushimi Roku’s nonsense, and comforted him not to worry too much, saying that it’s best not to stress about such things. No matter what, a man won’t lose out; a girlfriend delivered to your door, you might as well accept if offered.
He thought he was doing Minamoto Tamako a good service and, indirectly, trying to cozy up to Chief Kujo.
"Minamoto Tamako isn’t my type, you know, you can’t force things ."
Fushimi Roku was getting carried away with his bragging, spouting whatever nonsense came to mind: "Are you all still single now? Especially Senior Watanabe, who has been single to this day; do you have any secrets on how to reject a girl’s confession?"
Watanabe Shun didn’t respond, opting instead for a tactical beer sip.
Fushimi Roku wasn’t going to let him off, pursuing, "Being such a manly man, you must be very popular with girls, right? With so much experience in the dating scene, you surely have plenty of ways to reject girls... Could you share some? I really need it!"
Watanabe Shun scratched his head, said, "Just directly refuse, I guess."
"Like how?" Fushimi Roku asked.
"Something like ’I don’t like you,’ how about that?" Watanabe Shun crossed his arms, this was truly a blind spot in his knowledge.
"Wouldn’t that leave the other person feeling too disgraced? They’d be really upset, right? What if they start crying in front of you?" Fushimi Roku shook his head, not approving.
"A real man isn’t bothered by a woman’s tears." Watanabe Shun believed he’d uttered a very cool line, and threw in a beer burp to up the manliness.
Fushimi Roku suddenly felt that Versailles bragging in front of someone so broke was pointless. It was like a millionaire flaunting his five-million-dollar Rolex, expecting the broke guy to be amazed, only for him to ask if the watch was accurate; his cousin had one just like it.
So he turned his gaze to Kazama Tatsuya, who glanced at him sideways, "If you’re that troubled, I can help you reject Minamoto Tamako."
This time, it was Fushimi Roku’s turn for a tactical beer sip.
"Why suddenly so quiet?" Kazama Tatsuya pressed on, "What did you say at the time?"
Watanabe Shun remembered and slapped his forehead, joining in to question Fushimi Roku on what he’d said at the time. Fushimi Roku put on a helpless look, saying he didn’t want to hurt Minamoto Tamako’s feelings, so he reluctantly agreed.
At this, Watanabe Shun finally realized what was going on.
This kid was here just to show off!
Saying things like ’any secrets on how to reject a girl’s confession?’...
Sounded totally like he was asking for a punch!
He should have gotten the bald guy’s contact info earlier, just to ask him to slap this guy awake.
Watanabe Shun smacked his lips, internally groused for a while, and then asked, "Have you done it?"
Fushimi Roku and Kazama Tatsuya simultaneously turned to him, the latter looked undisturbed, seeing no problem with that question. After a moment of silence, Kazama Tatsuya and Watanabe Shun both turned back to Fushimi Roku.
"That’s someone else’s privacy..."
Before Fushimi Roku could finish, Watanabe Shun gave an "oh" and turned back to Kazama Tatsuya, saying, "So that’s a no."
Fushimi Roku slammed down his beer cup, arguing, "My relationship with Minamoto Tamako isn’t that kind of shallow bond... Can the feelings between partners be considered love?" Then he started spouting difficult terms like "Platonic love," "special treatment," causing everyone to laugh uproariously: The air inside and outside the shop was filled with joy.
Watanabe Shun showed a smile of intellectual superiority; we’re all men here, no matter how much Fushimi Roku tried to justify, he knew exactly what Fushimi was thinking.